"Where is it? Someone tell me — where is the Feather of the God of Thunder?"
The man in black had been smiling when he walked through the inner hall's entrance. The smile was gone before he had taken three steps.
He searched the area in front of the throne twice, then a third time. Nothing. He upended the offering tray, checked behind the statue, pressed his hands along the base of the dais. Still nothing. Then he put his fist through the statue of Zapdos, sent the throne clattering across the stone floor, and rounded on his subordinates.
The credit he had been counting on was gone. Worse, returning to the organization empty-handed meant punishment — and the Supreme Organization was not known for its leniency toward failure. His superiors wanted results. They had no interest in circumstances.
The group stood in perfect silence. Even when chips of shattered stone caught their faces, no one moved, no one spoke.
It was Monkey who finally broke the quiet, stepping forward once the worst of the storm had passed.
"Boss — when the vortex opened, it swept in a lot of the competition participants along with us. It's possible one of them got randomly dropped into the Thunder God's Hall before we arrived. Should we…"
He left it unfinished. No one needed him to complete the sentence.
The man in black was quiet for a moment, then gave a short wave of his hand.
"Keep them alive. Hostages are more useful than corpses — if things go wrong on the way out, we can use them to slow down the Alliance's Trainers. Monkey, take two men and link up with the rest of our people in the ruins. Sweep the whole complex and round up everyone who got swept in. If anyone resists, handle it. Find that feather."
He turned. "Fatty — you and your team go to the Ice God's Hall. Get the Feather of the God of Ice, then regroup with Monkey. The rest of you are with me to the Main Hall. Both teams, the moment your objectives are secured, move immediately."
His voice dropped.
"One word: fast. The Imperial Capital are at most half a day out. We are gone before their reinforcements arrive. Is that understood?"
"Understood, Boss!"
Monkey and Fatty answered together. The man in black was already moving.
The group filed back out through the Thunder God's Hall, past the ruined statue and overturned throne, and out into the ruins beyond. David, still pressed against the wall, watched them go.
It would never have occurred to any of them that the person who had taken the feather was standing three meters away the entire time.
✦ ✦ ✦
"Alright, Zorua — drop the Illusion."
"Zorua~"
A faint pink light flickered in Zorua's eyes. The air in front of them shimmered once, briefly, and then the false wall that had concealed them dissolved. What had looked like an ordinary stretch of stone was simply David and his Pokémon, standing quietly against the real wall behind it.
Zorua's Illusion had grown remarkably precise. David had tested it before — even Dragapult, with a Ghost-type's natural sensitivity to life force, could only detect the faintest wrongness if it looked carefully. For anyone without that specific perception, the disguise was essentially flawless. The man in black's Obstagoon had walked past without a flicker of suspicion.
David stepped away from the wall and looked toward the exits.
They had split into three groups.
He turned that over for a moment. Together, the full group would have been a serious problem — Dragapult was strong, but it was difficult to press an advantage against multiple Elite-level Pokémon simultaneously, and the man in black carried himself like a Gym-level Trainer at minimum, possibly higher. That was not a fight David could win cleanly.
Separately, though, the math was different.
His plan came together quickly. Fatty's group was heading for the Ice God's Hall. That was the most manageable target — a smaller team, away from the main force, in a contained space. Get there first, secure the Feather of the God of Ice, and assess from there. The Main Hall was tempting, but with the man in black heading there directly, it wasn't worth the risk right now. Better to take what was within reach.
And once he had the items, there was little the Supreme Organization could actually do to him. Belon City was coastal, which made escape routes easier for them — but only if they moved before the Alliance's reinforcements arrived. Every minute they spent searching the ruins was a minute working in David's favor. With Dragapult, he could stay hidden in the ruins for hours if it came to that. And if it came down to leaving, he could surface near the official Trainers stationed outside, give them what he knew, and let Dragapult help hold the line while the Alliance closed in.
He glanced at nothing in particular, and a small smile crossed his face.
Half a day, the man in black had said. David suspected the reinforcements would arrive considerably sooner than that.
He set off quietly through the ruins, giving the main force a wide berth, and made his way toward the Ice God's Hall.